Cromartie High: The Movie
is a 2005 Japanese comedy based on a manga series which was adapted to an anime series in 2003. It was directed by long-time cinematographer Yudai Yamaguchi. History of Cromartie High (movie version) * 1923 :"Tokyo Prefuctural Senior School No. 49" is established. Shigenoshin Mizuhara made school's first principal in April. School destroyed by the Great Earthquake in September. * 1930 :Tetsuharu Kawakami becomes boss of all school gangs. During one of his fights he left the famous words "I down tall buildings in a single pound." * 1944 :School falls victim to the air raids of WWII and is demolished for the second time in its short history. * 1948 :New School System introduced and school renamed "Tokyo Municipal High School No. 49". * 1950 :Under Order No. 1 of the Tokyo board of education, school renamed "Tokyo Cromartie High School". School mysteriously destroyed for a 3rd time when somebody bombs it. * 1952 :During official re-opening of school, a battle breaks out among students. In the ensuing riot, the school is destroyed for the 4th time. * 1956 :At the opening for the new pool and gym students from another school break in. The damage is limited. * 1960 :Cromartie holds the "1st Tokyo Metropolitan Gang Leader Conference". * 1968 :Police called to graduation ceremony. The conflict begins as a five-on-five battle between students and officers but escalates. Eventually the riot squad arrives, leading to the school's 5th demolition. * 1977 :Everyone simultaneously forgets the date for enrollment. * 1985 :Janitor accidentally lets all the school pets escape. Principal shoots and kills the animals, leading to another school riot. The school is destroyed for the 6th time. * Current day :Cromartie High School re-opens for the 7th time. Warren Cromartie Lawsuit In 2005, former Yomiuri Giants player Warren Cromartie sued the makers of the film for using the name Cromartie to depict a school full of students who "smoke, fight with students from other schools and are depicted as ruffians", hence defaming his character with the association. They were forced to go to court 3 times to get an injunction before the matter was dropped. Shooting Notes * The shoot took one month, and was done in the middle of summer. * The opening scene was filmed in one continuous shot but it was later edited down, making the process pointless. * According to Yudai Yamaguchi, Tak Sakaguchi wasn't really into his role and didn't have his lines memorized because he wasn't the star, but informed the director he liked his character after seeing the completed film. * Between takes Takamasa Suga, Mitsuki Koga, and Hiroshi Yamamoto would act out scenes from the manga that weren't in the script to get into character. * Hiroyuki Watanabe brought his own wardrobe from home for the role of Freddy and lifted weights before every scene. Gori & Lla The two ape villains that threaten the school Gori and Lla are not based on the characters from the original manga. They're characters who appeared in a sci-fi television show called Spectreman which aired in Japan from 1971-1972. The original creator of the manga, Eiji Nonaka, had this to say about the change: "Huh? Oh, really? That's amazing. Although I might not see it..." Cast * Global Defense Force ** Takamasa Suga ... Takashi Kamiyama ** Mitsuki Koga ... Shinjiro Hayashida ** Hiroshi Yamamoto ... Akira Maeda / Akira's mother ** Hiroyuki Watanabe ... Freddy ** Kai Atō ... Himself ** Noboru Kaneko ... Takeshi Hokuto ** Sadayoshi Shimane ... Hokuto's henchman * Students ** Ryuji Akiyama ... Makio Tanaka ** Hiroyuki Baba ... Makio's friend ** Hiroshi Yamamoto ... Makio's friend ** Tomohiro Kato ... Masa, pencil-eating bully ** Tomoaki Azuma ... Sho, bully with mohawk ** Tetsuya Kitamura ... Sabu, bully with long hair ** Mitsutoshi Shundo ... Toshi, bully with slicked back hair and band-aid ** Yoshihiro Takayama ... Yutaka Takenouchi ** Shinji Takeda ... Shin'ichi Mechazawa (voice) ** Minoru Nanaeda ... Nana, Mechazawa's crew ** Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi ... Yama, Mechazawa's crew * Rest of cast ** Kenichi Endo ... Pootan 1 ** Noboru Takachi ... Pootan 2 ** Itsuji Itao ... Highjacker A / Masked Takenouchi ** Yoshiki Hirao ... Highjacker B ** Bokuzo Masana ... Electrician ** Shoichiro Masumoto ... Space monkey Gori ** Yoshihiro Matsuura ... Hiroshi ** Kiyoshi Kobayashi ... Gori (voice) ** Kenji Miyoshi ... Lla ** Kanji Tsuda ... Interviewer A ** Tomonori Mizuno ... Interviewer B ** Manabu Shinoda ... Interviewer C ** Tak Sakaguchi ... Ichiro Yamamoto ** Bob Suzuki ... Father External links * Cromartie High: The Movie review at Eigapedia Category:Directed by Yudai Yamaguchi Category:Comedy Category:Released in 2005